


Staged

by AngelofDarkness1605



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-03-23
Packaged: 2018-05-28 15:32:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6334522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelofDarkness1605/pseuds/AngelofDarkness1605
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A demanding director takes the on-stage romance between amateur actors Belle and Rumple to a whole new level.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Staged

The man who wants to be known only as Hades whenever he's at work in the theater, dramatically buries his head between his hands.

"No, no, _no,_ " he exclaims, glaring at the couple on the stage in front of him through his fingers in despair. "You're supposed to be _lovers_ , not siblings!"

"We know that," Belle says in a small voice.

"I don't think you do," Hades retorts, "because you don't _act_ like it."

He looks at the leading actor and actress of the amateur theater play he's attempting to direct in disapproval. Hades supposes that the petite librarian plays the part of the curious and impulsive maid named Lacey well enough, but it's beyond him how he ever cast Rumple as Mr. Gold, the notorious landlord who employs her and eventually falls head over heels in love with her.

The man is a muttering fool, a bundle of anxiety and nervous tics, who doesn't even have a normal name. Admittedly – and rather curiously – there's something about the little man which _does_ transform the simple tailor he actually is into the character of the powerful and feared Mr. Gold when he's on stage.

He showed that convincingly during the auditions and the first few weeks of rehearsal... but not ever since. Now here they are, a mere month away from the first shows, and he's stuck with a play that's almost entirely carried by the chemistry between two actors who can't even kiss each other onto the cheek without being all awkward about it.

"Let's try this again," Hades sighs theatrically. "From the beginning of the scene. I want to see a _real_ kiss this time... show me how eager you are to bewitch the audience."

He can barely bear to look when they tiptoe around one another, their acting wooden. By the time Lacey has expressed her feelings for the landlord and Mr. Gold is supposed to pin her against the wall and kiss her senseless, the actors aren't even _looking_ at one another anymore.

"Enough!" Hades exclaims before they have reached the end of the scene. "Everyone, go home... except for the two of you. You won't leave until you finally get this right."

He's aware that everyone here, including these two, have actual jobs to get back to in the morning. Everyone, except for him. He's _Hades_ , after all, stage director extraordinaire, and one day he'll be recognized for the visionary theater creator he is far beyond the sleepy towns where he is forced to hone his skills in the current absence of actually worthwhile work.

"We'll try this scene again, but you'll start right with the kiss," Hades demands, all but seeing his promising career disappear in his mind's eye at the reminder that he's never going to be nearly as famous as he deserves as he can't get these two actors to actually _act._

That why it's yet more frustrating that they don't even _try_ to go for the kiss this time. They just stand there, looking at each other as if they're embarrassed, their cheeks bright read. There's not a hint of Mr. Gold's dominance or Lacey's boldness.

"What the hell are you two waiting for?! How difficult can it possibly be for two actors to _kiss_? Granted, Belle, I _know_ he's a sad excuse of a man who you can't possibly be actually attracted to, but for the sake of this play – and my career – you are going to _act_ as if you are. And if you don't... if either of you don't... don't think I won't replace you just because it's only four weeks until opening night."

"That's not true," Belle says fiercely, stepping in his direction with an accusing finger pointed at him.

"If you think that we have more than four weeks until the premier you're very much mistaken, missy," Hades whispers dangerously, horrified and bewildered alike by his leading actress' sheer lack of professionalism.

"I was talking about Rumple," she replies, straightening her back while she continues to advance on him. "He's _not_ a 'sad excuse of a man' as you so unpleasantly put it. In fact, I think he's very attractive."

"You do?" both men blurt out at the same time, sounding equally bewildered.

"I do," she says firmly, fire in her eyes.

"Well then, get on with it!" Hades sneers, recognizing an opportunity when it presents itself.

"I... I don't... I don't think we should do the scene like this," the other man brings out, his head slightly bowed.

"And why would that be?" Hades asks, his voice deceptively calm.

"I don't think that's right for the... characters."

"You're not here to _think,"_ the director snarls back, inwardly despairing that the other man choses this of all moments to grow a spine _._ "That's _my_ job."

"Rumple is right," she has the nerve to say. "The more I think about it, Mr. Gold would never push Lacey to a wall and kiss her like that."

"Would either of you care to explain to me how that makes any sense after the audience has just seen two hours of Gold's power, not to mention that Lacey is his _servant_?"

"Lacey may officially be his servant, but she's not inferior to him in any way," Belle says strongly. "Mr. Gold may come across as hard and indifferent, but that's only a mask to conceal that, deep down, he's as insecure and afraid as anyone, _especially_ when he falls in love again two decades after his ex wife left him."

Hades raises a skeptical eyebrow, not agreeing with a single word she says and annoyed beyond words by the way the actor nods firmly in silent agreement to her. But he's run out of other options and if allowing them to create their own version of the scene is what it takes to get through it at all, so be it.

"Let's do it your way then, but only once. The script is written the way it is for a reason, you know."

"Scripts aren't necessarily right," Belle dares to shrug before turning to her fellow actor again.

Biting his tongue, Hades can only barely prevent himself from interrupting when the two of them shuffle around the stage with that ever lingering awkwardness and uncertainty. By the time they finally start the scene, Belle is backing up Mr. Gold against the wall behind him rather than the other way around.

There's none of the purposeful movements he himself so clearly envisions, none of the franticness he has in mind when Lacey disarms the landlord with little more than a tender smile and tentative steps towards him.

Hades has never been a fan of improvisation, each and every deviation from the script taking away from the directions he has so carefully and thoughtfully crafted. But at least both actors aren't so awfully embarrassed any longer.

Indeed, they don't even need any encouragement to get close enough to one another for their bodies to actually touch. The way she cups Mr. Gold's cheek tenderly isn't in the script, the lines which he mutters in return aren't audible at all and the scene is far from visually dynamic, but all of it looks a lot more natural than anything they've tried for this scene before.

Maybe his dreams of Broadway aren't doomed after all.

Still, the way they break away from one another after their lips have barely touched for not even a second simply will not do. It appears that drastic measures are still in order.

If he's going to have walk them through the scene step by step – or rather, kiss by kiss - so be it. At least Broadway is going to be _easy_ after all this nonsense.

"Both of you," he says, gesturing at the couch on the other side of the stage. "On there. _Now_."

They both do as they are told despite looking rather dazed, both their faces appearing to become more flushed by the minute.

"Let's get this over with for once and for a all," Hades continues, eying them critically. To his ever growing despair, they've left plenty of space between them when they settled on the couch. "Go sit down next to one another. Wrap your arm around her back."

Miraculously, the other man does exactly that without actually _doing_ that, still keeping some distance between them and even managing not to touch her at all even when he puts his arm around her.

"Now, kiss her. Just kiss her. You've done so before in the past few weeks. The world didn't end back then and it won't happen now, so _just kiss her_ already."

To his frustration, the actor only does as he says after Belle nods at him encouragingly. Once more, the kiss is so brief and chaste that it might as well not have happened at all.

"Again," Hades commands, almost rolling his eyes in frustration at the complete lack of progress. "Again, _again!_ "

The actors kiss for a second time, and a third and a fourth, but nothing changes whatsoever. If anything, they seem to get yet _less_ comfortable around one another.

"Let's try some touching then," he sighs, exasperated. "Both of you. Let's start easy by getting used to your partner's back, arms and shoulders, but feel _very_ free to continue to the level that the script actually requires."

To his relief, Belle doesn't need to be told twice, one of her hands roaming over his back and the other twining in the hair at the nape of his neck as she embraces him. He however isn't touching her in return at all, his hands hovering utterly uselessly an inch or so above her sides.

"How long has it been since you actually touched a woman? Do you even know what to do?" Hades exclaims in ever increasing disbelief, figuring that he isn't interrupting anything with his outburst because, really, there isn't anything _to_ disrupt. "Did you ever touch one _at all_?!"

"I... well, my... my ex... ex wife and I separated..."

Great, just _great_. As if things weren't bad enough yet, his leading actor is all but _stuttering_ now.

"You don't have to reply to him, Rumple," she says quickly and decisively. "He doesn't have the right to demand an answer to that question... _no one_ has. Besides, it's perfectly fine if you don't have lots of experience... and it's perfectly fine if you do."

"Thank you, Belle," he whispers to her, shyly touching her hand as if he is truly little more than a schoolboy.

"I'd love to be in this play with you," she says in turn, utterly ignoring the director standing right in front of them as if he isn't there at all. "But maybe I shouldn't be. I feel more and more like I'm making you uncomfortable and I don't ever wish to..."

"You're not making me uncomfortable," he says quickly, as if they aren't in the middle of a rehearsal. "Why would I be uncomfortable with _you_?! More than anything, you've been trying to put me at ease. I can tell, although I've got no idea at all why you would bother doing that. But I appreciate it, Belle. Very much. It means a lot to me."

"I'm very glad you feel that way, but we _have_ been rehearsing for a love scene for weeks and, if anything, we're getting worse at it. It seems to me that you are tense and nervous. I don't blame you for that at all, but I don't want to make it worse."

"You don't," he replies hastily, sounding once more almost as convincing as the determined character he plays. "But I'm afraid to make _you_ uncomfortable. After all, you're _wonderful_ and I'm... well, I'm _not._ "

"But you _are!_ " Belle exclaims with all the radiance Hades can only hope she'll also show when actually performing in his show.

"You... I _am_?!"

"Yes!" she cries out with such persuasion that it's almost offending, considering that her insistence that the man opposite her is 'wonderful' is more unlikely than anything in the script he's trying with all his might for her to adhere to.

"Let's get back to work," Hades demands loudly, realizing that the questioning, awed look on the other man's face could perhaps work for the scene. "Try some more kisses. _French_ kisses this time, thank you very much."

He sighs again when the two actors merely glance at one another for a few more endless moments. He's starting to fear that he's going to have to stay here with them until dawn... and that even _that_ won't make the difference which he needs if he wants to avoid directing unimportant plays in yet more unimportant towns for the rest of his life.

But before he gives up hope for once and for all, there appears to be some sort of wordless communication between them. They _smile_ as if there's any reason to and reach out for one another simultaneously, caressing each other's faces.

Before Hades has to remind them that there still isn't _nearly_ enough physical contact between them, their lips brush once more. Barely able to believe his own eyes, he watches how Belle parts her lips after another while. Nothing more happens for another moment, but eventually the two actors are actually doing exactly as they are told, kissing one another with increasing and compelling passion.

"Oh, _Belle_..."

"Rumple..."

It shouldn't come as a surprise that the moment is ruined after all just when Hades imagines himself to be the most celebrated director on Broadway. What kind of actor calls their on-stage love interest by the wrong name?! The actors who are his ticket to becoming famous at last of course, that's who.

"I don't know what the hell the two of you are playing at, but you'll _never_ get this scene right if you..."

To his utter dismay, the couple doesn't seem to even hear him, deepening their kiss rather than breaking away to receive some much needed instructions and an angry outburst.

"I only auditioned because I knew that the role would allow me to spend time with you," the other man whispers to the woman when they break their kiss to breathe. "I didn't know that we are supposed to _kiss_ until..."

"That's not even in the script!" Hades yells in dismay, wondering whether they're doing this on purpose, in an envious attempt to torpedo his promising career before it has properly begun.

But it's like they still don't even hear them, as if they have lost awareness of everything and everyone except for one another. At least there's finally some sort of spark between them. In fact... he doesn't know whether it's life imitating art or the other way around, but there's _definitely_ happening something between the overly outspoken librarian and the painfully shy tailor.

Still, they're not doing what _he_ wants them to do and he's got the distinct feeling that this isn't going to change, at least not tonight. Usually he's all for method acting, but in this case...

Hades watches the couple with disgust as they cling to one another and express their desire in a way he thought they weren't capable of. He has no idea what is going on exactly, but it's clear that they won't be returning their attention to the actual rehearsal – or to _him,_ for that matter - any time soon.

Then again, perhaps not everything is lost. He'll never admit it to anyone, especially not to _them,_ but they have given him two or three new ideas. He might tweak the script a little after all to allow future performances to contain some of the changes that the two actors made earlier... although he will obviously make certain that everyone will think that it was all his brilliant idea to begin with.

Telling himself that there's no point in staying here any longer while his leading actors are otherwise occupied, Hades decides to give up on rehearsals for tonight. Gathering his belongings and leaving the room, he slams the door behind him, knowing that the couple still inside won't even notice.


End file.
